Sunday, September 18, 2011

Monday night, September 19, will be the third of four nights where The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra will perform a different live score to a silent film. This week, they present Eisenstein's "Strike!", which was made early in his career, right before his better-known "Battleship Potemkin".

Opening the show will be The May Day Orchestra, performing their folk opera "May Day, or Songs For Lucy Parsons". This music will accompany a later, unfinished film by Eisenstein called "Que Viva Mexico!". The German anarchists of Chicago and the customs of Mexico will be united under the roof of El Lenador, a feat no other venue could accomplish.

Monday, September 12, 2011

The May Day Orchestra will double as a cover band this weekend. Usually I might scoff at such an idea but what if it was a cover band performing the songs of The Handsome Family? Okay then. Melissa Anderson suggested the idea a while ago. Her band Tenement Ruth already covers "So Much Wine" at their shows, so we decided to go ahead with it and learn a handful more. This Saturday, therefore, September 17 at noon, in the parking lot of a beer festival, we'll try it out. Schlafly's Hop In The City festival might not yet know what they're in for. Perhaps this will be the one and only time, but perhaps we'll do it again after because their songs are something unique.